Happy New Year 2012

Pretty winter flowers at Blue Canyon on Dec. 31, 2011. Photo by Frog Mom

To all my readers from near and far, best wishes for a happy new year 2012! May the Year of the Dragon bring you happiness, success in your endeavors and a healthy family. A special thanks to all of you who read this blog and made the effort to comment, online and offline - it really means a lot to me.

Instead of lofty resolutions - see, I'm still weighing my options and there's no telling how long that might last - I'm offering you a January hodgepodge list of hopes, wishes and random thoughts:

1. First and foremost, I hope that we find a way to keep California State Parks afloat in this rough patch because everybody should have the opportunity to see the home of Jack London in the Sonoma Valley, swim in the Navarro River at Hendy Woods in the Anderson Valley, be awed by the windswept bluffs where the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse is perched in Mendocino, swim in the crystal waters of the South Yuba River or visit the amazing gold mining town of Malakoff Diggins. You can support the parks via the California State Parks Foundation here. 
2. I wish the best of luck to all the mompreneurs out there who are weathering the crisis with creative ideas and unlimited stamina. If you're a mompreneur, comment below and give yourself a well-deserved shout out for your business!
3. I hope that my 6-year old finally learns to ride her bike without training wheels. Really kiddo - are 2 wheels enough, pretty please?
4. I hope more restaurants serving seafood realize we are over-fishing the oceans and stick to sustainable seafood in their choices. I always check the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list when I order or buy seafood.
5. I hope the little 10-year old who's a son of friends in France beats his cancer for good. Send your warm wishes to him in thoughts and prayers.
6. I really want to mail all my 2012 greetings cards before Valentine's day - with last year's, for those that made it to the forever-later-pile in 2011. 
7. I hope my girls can swim safely before the summer as I won a Caribbean vacation and there's no Caribbean without swimming.
8.  I wish for my husband to find a better work-life balance this year as his San Francisco-to-London traveling will be intense. Honey, how about we buy an Iceland second home, right in the middle?
9. Direct consequence of number 8, I hope my babysitter won't contract a horrible and lengthy disease so she's free to watch my girls - and me free for regular girls night outs and movie nights. A computer screen is not my best friend, I need to remind myself daily.
10. Last but not least I wish you all to be inspired by one person this year because inspiration is what keeps us going though the ups and downs of the daily grind. Find that one light in your life, cherish it, learn from it and get inspired!

Happy new year to you all!